


The Music is Muffled

by bellygunnr



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Sanitized Characters (Splatoon), F/F, Heavy Angst, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-07-30 22:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20104633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellygunnr/pseuds/bellygunnr
Summary: Rider had vanished after the events of Octo Expansion-- but suddenly, he's back, and happy to be home. But it seems like everything has changed while he's been away. Goggles is scared of him, and so is everyone else.





	1. this deep underwater

The subway train travels slowly compared to its surface counterparts, taking its time as it passes between circuits and stations as it is not restrained by petty things such as a schedule or even a clock. Time is meaningless here. There is no measurement. The residents have no need for it, either, and arrive only when they need to.

Except for today.

The train car is occupied by a single creature, their outfit filthy, skin showing through rips and tears. Glowing stains decorate the fabric, casting them in an eerie, sickly glow, which if one looks closer, is identical to their pallor. They stare at the seat opposite of them rather listlessly-- as if deep in thought or perhaps not thinking at all.

** _"You've passed your tests, little Agent, but now I ask of you one thing: bring back those pests from before. The blue ones, and perhaps the subjects that they stole from me."_ **

Ideas and suggestions would form inside the creature's-- an Inkling-- brain. Fuzzy formations of smiling faces, intense blue eyes, and a pure laugh. The inkling looks up at the ceiling as his feeble thoughts warp violently.

** _"Yes, you have the right idea. They are our enemies. They hurt us, little Agent. It is your duty to bring them back for proper punishment."_ **

By then, the subway train slowed to a crawl, an alert sounding tinnily over the intercom. The Inkling doesn't wait for the doors to slide open before heading for the exit, though he scowls instantly at the unfamiliar temperature and smells in this particular station. He nearly scurries back inside the car but a sharp mental shove throws him out onto the concrete.

It's warm compared to the rest of the facility.

It's hot against his skin.

_ **"My, my. You're not handling this well, are you? I thought that trip would be plenty long enough to become acclimated. Oh, well. Go to the surface."** _

Against what little judgement he has left, he obeys, face twisted into a snarl.

  
\--

As the Inkling returns to the surface, he feels a... softening, a releasing, in the depths of his brain. Deadened sensations and functions forgotten begin to stir, alerting him to things such as textures and smells, light and darkness. He can feel that it's meant to be gradual but it's the equivalent of an electric shock to his nervous system-- painful, startling, blinding.

Noisy. Loud. Bright. Clashing. Hot. Hot, hot, hot--!

He's pretty he screams as he's confronted with the wave of input, screams as he tries to run back into the alleyway from whence he came, and howls as the voice inside his brain stops him cold. He isn't allowed back, the voice snaps, you have a mission!

Mission.

The word reverberates through his mind and sinks in with claws and teeth.

Mission.

Those pesky creatures from before-- blue, pale, twisted smiles and snarling laughs. He remembers. They hurt him and they got in the way of his Master. He has to bring them back to be punished.

_ **"They'll make much better soldiers than paste, little Agent, so take care not to kill any of them."** _

+

  
A sort of... camaraderie had been forged between Blue Team and Yellow-Green since the loss of Rider, captain and friend to them all. The friends sit together now at the various food tables of Crusty Sean, laughing and eating, weapons nestled neatly in cases at their feet. No one approaches them-- a certain air keeps outsiders away.

"Hey, Stealth, have you gotten your goggles' lenses repaired yet? You said they were all scratched up."

"Wh- what? Oh, yeah... I got them- I got them fixed yesterday! Sheldon was really nice about it."

"He's _suuuuper_ nice!" Goggles chimes in, grinning. "I like to listen to him talk..."

Blazer shakes her head as she accepts a tray of food from Goggles. "I think you're the only one who does. Thank you," she adds. She distributes the food out to their respective owners: Specs, Stealth, herself, and now Goggles.

It was a curious summation of parts. A tentative combination.

They eat in silence, punctuated by laughter from their sister table. Bobbles, Headphones, and Bamboo are a powerful trio when left to their own devices. It's the sound of a chair scraping against concrete that makes heads turn.

"Eh? Headphones, where are you going?"

Headphones had stood up, blue eyes narrowed, focused on something afar.

"Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear... what?"

A piercing scream rises above the general hubbub, stopping them all cold. Goggles laughs nervously.

"Sh- should we go check it out--?"

"Don't think we have to-- look at that guy!"

A disturbance has rippled throughout the milling folks of Inkopolis Square. Cries of shock and disgust are audible as people scramble to avoid the source-- a shambling, stiff Inkling in broken clothes and green skin.

Cold silence falls among them.

They recognize that outfit.

They recognize that Inkling.

"Rider...?"

+

Goggles stumbles forward first to approach the Inkling, who as he approaches, confirms his suspicions that it is Rider. A Rider that's different, shaking, sickly, whose sickened complexion threatens to dredge up memories better forgotten. Despite his misgivings he still reaches out, offering his hand.

"Hey... Are you okay? Where have you been?"

His voice is soft, soft, soft, a whisper in the abrupt silence, shaking under the scrutinizing eyes of the public.

"We've been really worried. We haven't seen you for months, Rider!"

He grasps hold of Rider's hand, squeezing, and squeaks when the other Inkling flinches away as if burned. Rider didn't like being touched normally but that--?

He had never reacted like that.

"Rider, please-- talk to me. Say something!"

"...I'm fine," he croaks after a long moment. "I'm fine," Rider repeats.

"Fine?" Goggles says, blistered by the lie. "You don't look fine! Look at you! Y- you- you look like you've been hit! Or swimming with Salmon!"

Rider growls, shaking his head, hands clamping over his ears. "Don't talk so loud! It hurts!"

"You-- you need to come home," Goggles stumbles on, forcing his voice to be soft again. "It's been so long..."

Goggles was quickly finding it in himself to adapt, to bend to this stranger-Rider's demands, yet he feels sicker by the second. Anxiety twists and pulls at his insides. Rider was acting so strange!

"Please...?" He reaches out for his hands again, wincing as he's swiped at. "Rider!"

"Don't touch me!"

"D- do you... remember me, Rider?"

And silence falls between them.

  
"...Your name... is Goggles," Rider says, voice a harsh croak. "Goggles..."

"You need to come home, Rider," Goggles whispers. "Please."

"Home...?"


	2. through the concrete walls

The basement Yellow-Green had commandeered for their team meetings had since become theirs entirely. It looked well lived in, the walls plastered with posters and various maps which in turn were covered with marker. A dry-erase board had been erected at one end of the concrete room and, currently, they all sat Knight-style at a round table. Since Rider's departure, the head was left empty, but now it was occupied by Stealth.

Bamboo set her hat on the floor, in conjunction with Stealth casting aside his goggles. 

"That was definitely Rider."

"Yes, well, we got that when Goggles took him home," Bamboo said tightly. She drummed her fingers across the surface of the wooden table. "He looked so... ill. Sick!"

"I've never seen anything like it before," Blazer said. "And the way he was acting..."

"Do you guys remember when Blue Team disappeared for a while? And Rider, too?" 

"Goggles said they lost Rider down there," Blazer said slowly.

Stealth leans back in his chair, the lenses of his goggles flickering on and off. He was prone to fidgeting with the settings dial when thinking.

"I don't think they lost him. I think they ran away from him."

Now that was a new concept-- one they hadn't considered before. Silence falls over the table as they all look at each other. Each of them remembers distinctly how Blue Team, and the Octolings they brought with them, behaved.

It had started with a text message..

+

_ Bamboo. Can you come over? With the others. _

_ Bamboo has to fish her phone out of the blankets from which it had been entangled. Blazer still snoozed, undisturbed, her limbs spread akimbo as she snored. She grumbles to herself as again, the phone vibrates, this time with the urgent pulse of a call. A number she saw rarely-- Goggles. _

_ Confused, she blearily answers the phone, willing something to spike her into wakefulness. _

_ “Hello…?” _

_ “Blazer! Thank cod you woke up. Um, something happened. We really need you to get Yellow-Green and come over. Have you heard anything from Rider in the oh, past… uh… how long were we down there?” _

_ There’s a murmur of voices and Bamboo’s anxiety spikes. Drowsiness still pulls at her but it’s less acute now. _

_ “...Rider hasn’t been around for a couple of days,” Bamboo cuts in. “We’ve been looking everywhere for him! Even his Dynamo is gone.” _

_ “A-- a couple days? Guess we were down there for awhile! Well, um, can you please get everyone to come over? You know where my place is, right?”  _

_ Goggles sounded… anxious, unsure of himself. Bamboo swallows and starts to nod, only speaking when she remembers it’s a phone call. “Yeah! Yeah, absolutely. We’ll all be there. Is everything okay? Is Rider okay?” _

_ She rubs over Blazer’s shoulder as she notes her girlfriend beginning to move. _

_ “I’ll see you soon, Bamboo.” _

_ And the call goes dead with a soft blip. _

_ “Who was that, babe?” _

_ “It was Goggles. He wants us to come over-- I don’t know why, but it sounds serious. You up for coming with?” _

_ “Weren’t we going to look for Rider today…?” _

_ “Blue Team may have done that for us.” _

_ + _

_ They had never been to Goggles’ house before, but they were fairly certain it wasn’t supposed to feel like this. The air was tight but somber, heavy with something that Bamboo could have cut with her carving knife. Hell, she could have made hundreds of little sculptures out of the tension in the air. Her ears folded back against her head as Yellow-Green was ushered inside. _

_ “Thanks for coming so soon, guys. It means a lot.” _

_ “Y- yeah, no problem,” Bamboo says. “Who are they?” _

_ Inside the tiny studio apartment, six Inklings were crammed, all of them dressed weirdly but two of them sticking out more than the others. Bamboo stares at them with critical, appraising eyes, skin prickling with apprehension. Even their tentacles were strange-- a bright, glossy pink-red, their suckers facing outward.  _

_ Almost Inklings. Yet not quite. _

_ “Th- this is Hachi and Nana! Um, we rescued them from… from a really bad guy, way underground.” _

_ “Underground?” Stealth cuts in. _

_ “It’s called the Deep Sea Metro,” one of the strange Inklings says. Their tentacles are arranged in pretty, dancing locks. “My name is Nana. Hachi and I used to be Octarian soldiers before being freed by the Inkantation. I assume you are familiar?” _

_ “The Calamari Inkantation,” Stealth clarifies. “Yes, of course. One of our oldest traditional songs.” _

_ “Correct. Well, shortly after being freed, I was captured and held prisoner by.... By someone--” _

_ “Something,” Specs hissed. _

_ “Someone named Tartar,” Nana finishes firmly. _

_ “And I woke up alone. An ancient squiddo named Cap’n Cuttlefish met me first. Something had knocked me cold-- but I apparently escaped being captured. It wasn’t long before we met Goggles down there.” _

_ Nana’s friend-- Hachi, Bamboo surmised-- had a low, clear voice that told her many things. Her ears flipped out from their folded position. _

_ “And when I met Hachi… we met the Phone.” _

_ Blazer cuts in, frustrated, stepping ahead of the rest of Yellow-Green. “None of this explains where Rider went, you know!” _

_ “We have to tell you everything else!” Hachi exclaims. “Or else you won’t understand the severity of the situation!” _

_ “We don’t understand the situation now! Why are we supposed to believe you guys, huh?” _

_ “Because Rider was with us--! He was with us through the whole thing, and we failed him, and he’s stuck down there and now we don’t know where he’s at, and we’re sorry, we’re really sorry! None of us could do anything! That stupid Tartar got the better of all of us!” _

_ Goggles’ outburst was loud, wobbling with the wet bubbling of an Inkling in distress.  _

_ “Rider was with us! He bought us time to escape! Then there was this whole other thing and- and- and we had to save Inkopolis, it was really scary, but we managed to do it but Rider wasn’t there because we failed him! Okay?! We lost him!” _

_ Bobble puts her arm around Goggles’ shoulders, hugging him close. _

_ “It’s hard to believe that all happened in only a few days,” Specs says breathlessly. “It was… really scary.” _

_ “We are not afraid to admit that it was terrifying,” Nana says solemnly. “Rider was-- was a good Inkling, for what little… I saw of him.” _

_ “He’s still alive!” Headphones hisses, smacking the Octoling’s shoulder. Goggles had his face buried in Bobble’s shoulder, clearly suppressing tears. _

_ “Cod, this is a fucking mess, isn’t it?” Bamboo snarks. “Are you saying you got our team captain killed?” _

_ “No! Never,” Hachi bursts out. “Your Rider made a sacrifice, miss, but I promise you he is not dead.” _

_ Nana shoots Hachi a look that Bamboo couldn’t hope to interpret. _

_ + _

As soon as Goggles ushered Rider into his home, Rider fled from his grasp, diving into the first room he saw-- the bathroom. The door closes with a loud slam, then a soft click, and Goggles is left staring at the empty space with confused shock. Tentatively, he follows after his partner, pressing his ear against the thin door.

There’s the sound of retching.

“Ri-- Ri, are you okay? Do you need anything?”

The retching doesn’t last long-- maybe five minutes-- but by the time it’s over, Goggles is trembling, nails digging into the palms of his hands. He gasps with relief when he hears the sound of rushing water, indicating that Rider was trying to clean himself up. He knocks on the door with three gentle taps.

“Rider…?”

“M-- Mmm, fine,” a voice mumbles. The door swings open.

“You are not fine! You are so bad! You’re gonna kill me, Rider!” Goggles cries. “We’re getting you some water and you need to lie down!”

Rider whines at the loud voice, pawing at his ears with long, unkempt claws, shoving past Goggles with a groan. He’s wincing and flinching beneath the overhead light. He unceremoniously falls to the floor, burying his face into his tattered vest. 

“It’s too warm,” he complains.  _ I want to be back underground! It’s nice and cool and quiet…! _

“Then let me cool it down…”

Goggles… busies himself, because if he doesn’t, he will cry. He drags out the futon that he sleeps with, setting it within the AC’s line of flow, and guides Rider into it. He kneels down beside him, offering a single upturned palm to show that he wants-- no, needs-- to interact with him physically.

“Please, big guy? Let’s get those old clothes off you, okay?”

Rider unfurls just slightly, enough for Goggles to get a hold of his gear. The jacket is unzipped and unfastened, which proves not to be overly difficult as most of the fastenings are worn and torn. He slides the heavy gear from Rider’s shoulders, leaving a plain sweater. It’s bright red.

“Where’s your black jacket, bud?”

He receives no response except violent shivering.

Goggles sighs and coaxes Rider into lying down. 

“I’m just glad you’re back…”

+

“Do you think Hachi knows that we found Rider? Maybe we should tell him…”

This idea comes from Blazer, wily and impressive always. She slams her phone down onto the table, the Octoling’s contact information already pulled up. A determined light dances in her eyes.

“They have to know something, right? They can help us fix Rider!”

“I think… that would work. What do you think, Stealth?”

Stealth nods very slowly. “It really can’t hurt. Then tomorrow… we should check on Goggles and Rider. I’m worried.”

Blazer dials Hachi shortly after their agreement, fang digging into her lip. Silence becomes heavy and suffocating in their little basement, threatening to choke her, until finally, an accented “Hello?” comes through the other side.

“H- Hachi! Hello, I know this is sudden-- are you free? Something happened, uh…”

_ “Oh, Miss Blazer? Well, Headphones already told me. About your Captain, yes?” _

“O- Oh? Did… she? Yes, Rider uh-- came back today. He looked really…”

_ “Sanitized. Yes. You should come over. The others are already here. Nana will add you all to the group chat.” _

“Thank you, Hachi…”

And the call goes dead with a soft blip.

“Guess we’re going to Hachi’s! Blue Team is already there,” Blazer says with forced cheeriness. But she couldn't help but think-- what the hell was "sanitized?"

+

** _“AGENT. You’re beginning to upset me-- bring that blue pest and his friends to me! Enough of this weakling act.”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Ao3 user Silvalina for betaing this chapter!! They were a great help, please check them out!!


End file.
